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The Loss of a Child

Musician, Arlen Roth experienced one of the greatest pains a parent can face; the loss of a child. He requested to share in his own words how he felt regarding this experience to help others deal and understand the pain.

Arlen Roth and his daughter. Also if you are interested in becoming a certified bereavement counselor, then please review the program

Arlen writes:

The devastation that a tragedy such as I went through can cause is beyond the imagination of anyone, except those who have unfortunately also gone through such a loss, but one can never truly “heal” from having your 14 year-old daughter and wife of 17 years ripped away from you in a blink of an eye. The only thing I could do, and what I HAD to do, was go on for my daughter, Lexie Roth, who’s also a singer, songwriter and guitarist in her own right.

It was many months before I picked up a guitar again after the accident in 1998, and even then it had to almost be forced upon me. Lexie eventually started writing a lot of songs and several dealing with the tragedy, which led to her first album, “One Long Blink”,and which is also reflected in some of the songs in her current release, “Lexie Roth.” It took me 3 years before I could go into the studio again, and all I could do was make a deeply personal, all-solo acoustic alum called “Drive it Home.” This album featured many songs made up right on the spot; a kind of “emotional, musical photography of notes” that occured simply as I felt them. Being the kind of player who always “shoots from the hip” anyway, this was just a further and deeper statement of who I was, who I am, and especially who I was at that very moment of raw, musical emotion.

There have been even 4 more albums since then, but my latest, “All Tricked Out!”, the fifth since the tragedy, is a kind of ripping off of the shirt and stating that “I’m really BACK!” sort of effort. Sure there is still tons of emotion to hear and experience, but there is no hesitation to be a bit playful, to show some humor, to show that I’ve musically “moved forward” in not only my playing, but also my life.

For the last 14 years since the accident, it felt as if literally NO time had passed.NOW, it at least feels like time, albeit too quickly now, has started to move forward again, through the time and notes in my music, as well as watching the time and life move forward through my surviving daughter, Lexie. I hope folks enjoy this record, and through the notes I play and sing, hear and feel teh indescribable emotions I can’t help but convey!

Arlen Roth

If you are interested in learning more about grief, please review our program and also feel free to learn more about Arlen Roth’s story. If you are interested in also becoming a certified bereavement counselor, then please review the program. In becoming a certified bereavement counselor, you can help many people deal with their grief in a healthy way.